It was SPA happy hour tonight – onthe 17th of every month, my Irish “family” gets together for a little get-together. We hit up a different place each month. This month was a small group of people. Only 6 showed up, but it was great. We’re the “older” kids, so we could bond over that.

I love my St. Pat’s people.
They deal with the same b.s. that I do.
The drama, the catty princesses, the red tape. They get it.

These are some of my best friends.

And now I’m home.

I had class tonight. We started our new, 8-week, winter session for Egyptian/AmCab. Shimmy layers, veil work, it was awesome.
I love veil work.
It’s so graceful and flowy (is that even how you spell it?) and delicate. Things that I am generally not.
I wish I could incorporate more veil into my ATS dance.
Veil is stunning and dynamic.

Also… I may be a tiny bit intoxicated.
That’s a hard thing to type when you’ve had several oatmeal-coffee stouts.
FYI – Hinterland Coffee Stout is total amazebawlz.

Three pints shoudln’t hit me so hard, but I’ve been fairly dry.
I hit it kinda hard during my trip to the Dells, but I haven’t had this kind of quantity of beer in weeks. Because I was sick, I didn’t drinl at all for, like, 3 weeks. Then, I was at 1 beer a week.

I have had one amazing string of adventures!
This is a tremendous time of year for me. I have mini-vacations, weddings, Ren-Festing…. I’m happy, but exhausted.

I’ve spent the last 2 weeks jumping between being home and not for various celebrations and get-togethers. I am so very, very happy to be able to settle for a bit.
And I can get back to dancing.
I have missed it so much.

But… on to the meat of this post, which is 1 of 3 I will be doing tonight.
“Why three?”, you ask.
Because I have been slacking and I have things to say. Hubby is working tonight, so I have the peace and serentity of the holy terrors (known more commonly as Calli, Banshee, and Wookie) running around the house.

This post is to remind everyone that I am still “reviewing” a book. Posts 2 and 3 will be reviews on the next 2 chapters.
This post is also to share a touching and beautiful wedding speech from my dear freinds’ wedding last week. It wasn’t a tradition ceremony, or wedding, as same-sex marriages are not yet legal in Minnesota. However, it was still a wonderful commitment ceremony – long overdue – for two women who mean the world to me.

These gals have been freinds, with each other and me – since highschool. They’ve been together as a couple since college.
They didn’t know that they would grow to have feelings for each other for years. They didn’t know they could have feelings for another girl, since they had previously been attracted to dudes. Their long-running joke was that they were “queer for each other” and not acutally lesbians.

I know the few of you who follow my meager blog will very much appreciate this, and may even be moved to tears as I was.

We’d like to start by saying we both feel so lucky to have each of you who has played a

role in our lives joining us today as we make this special and emotional commitment to

each other. Thank you all.
The Wedding Speech:

“Some people asked us why we’re getting married here today instead of opting instead to go out of State or out of the country to have a “real” legal wedding ceremony, or simply wait until our marriage can be legal. Our response is that we did not choose to fall in love with one another, but it is the greatest bit of serendipity either of us could have ever hoped for. We have spent a wonderful 11 years together and plan to spend the rest of our lives together. No State, No country, and No government can stop us from committing our lives to each other. Just as our love is real, and our commitment is real, this wedding is real.

We would absolutely love to have a state recognized legal marriage and if it becomes an option we will make our union official at our first opportunity. However, while getting that document will mean the world to us, it will not change anything about our wedding here today. While we feel we deserve it as much as any other couple, we do not need a document to validate our love and commitment. Marriage is much more than the piece of paper and the official government recognition and legal protections that come with it. It is union of two people and two lives into one whole. We stand before you today as two people very much in love and ready to commit our lives to one another as life partners and wives.”

This is where they had their ceremony. It was beautiful and sunny, warm, and serene.

After the trip, which was a good hours from home, we headed down to our local Rennaissance Festival for the weekend. One of my best friends (and her hubby and another pal) came up for the weekend, so we all got hotel rooms near the fairgrounds. Fest was great. We ate too much, drank too much, and partied like the rock stars that we are!

Another birthday has come and gone.
It was a good day – We had build-your-own sundaes at work, I had a great time at class, AND I got to hang out with good friends! I really wish it didn’t take a birthday to get us together, but I’ll take what I can get.

Class was amazing. It was 2 hours of totally kick-butt ATS(r). My arms are tired. So very tired. We learned the reach & sit and drilled that along with a few other moves. Eventually, I’ll be able to do the Turkish Shimmy 1/2 Turn without looking like a jackass. Eventually.

The bar was running a Twitter special – Mention it (the Twitter thing) and get a FREE pint of Murphy’s Irish Stout.
No strings attached. Free effin’ beer.
It’s nice to be good friends with the management… well, it’s nice to be sleeping with the liquor manager who also happens to be in charge of the social media/promotions/whatnot. My husband is pretty awesome.

It was a good time – as you can see below:

My *real* birthday celebration, though, will be on Sunday. It’s the third annual Bohemian Grove Workshop; I’ve signed up for several workshops, bought my ticket into the hafla, and just ordered my offical BG tshirt!

It’s late and I need to go to bed. I have to work in the morning (but, I do have a pass to come in late if I need to).

Some day, when I decide to grow up (a little), I might make the conscious decision to stop drinking so darn much in one evening.
We’re not talking binge-drinking, by the way, because I won’t do that. Hubby and I went and hung out with some friends that we haven’t seen in a while and kinda made a big night of it.
We grilled, we had some beers, watched a movie (“Wet Hot American Summer”). Then we drank some more.
My girlfriend is pregnant, so she had water and juice, then called it a night around 2330. We we there until just after midnight.

I did, however, make the decision to drink lagers, rather than stouts or reds. I drank several cans of New Belgium Shift. It’s very good… easy to drink, not filling, nice bready-flavor. I recommend it if you prefer something light.
And for a hot night like last night, it was perfect.
But, like I said, I drank several. I usually like to cap it at 3. I had 5.
So, not a binge, but definitely more than I should.

Now my head feels light.
There used to be this great hangover remedy called “Wake-up Call”. It was an Alka-seltzer product. Best darn thing for feeling better. Unfortunately, they recalled it.
Now, I use Alka-seltzer Plus Cold formula. It helps with the intestinal distress and a bit on the head, but nowhere near what “Wake-up Call” did. At the very least, they could have repackaged it as a migraine medication. That stuff was awesome for migraine relief.
For now, though, I’ll sip my citrus-flavored fizzy water and relax for a bit before undertaking any huge projects.
I have some sewing I want to get done… the friends we visited yesterday are expecting their first baby in the fall – I have some baby blocks to put together. 🙂

Oh, and I managed to pop my knee out of place last night. Just for a brief moment.
I was starting to get up from my seat so the four of us could get ice cream – not Dairy Queen or mass-produced stuff, home-town creamery style. 🙂
As I unfolded my leg from under me, we all heard a crack. My pal in the kitchen thought his wife slapped my leg. Hubby, who was on the chair next to me, thought I smacked myself.
And then they saw my face.
I’m sure it was a sight to behold. It wasn’t quite as painful as I expected, but hurt enough for some tears.
Fortunately for me it wasn’t quite out of place… it just shifted enough to threaten.

Ouch.
I spent the rest of the evening in a brace or with an ice pack. It’s not badly bruised, mostly just a bit stiff and swollen.

Overall, though, the evening was great.
I enjoy spending time with those two. We’ve been friends for a long time, and they (so far) haven’t let time change who they are.

After a good (read: busy) day at work, I decided to skip the gym today and do a little yoga/stretching at home tonight. I also decided that tonight would be a good night to enjoy some quality beers.

So, first up: Fulton’s Sweet Child of Vine IPA.
It has a light, crisp, sweet tang to it that is simply delightful. And, if I might add, goes rather nicely with my spinach, feta, and garlic burger.

I haven’t decided on my next beer yet, we’ll see how long it takes me to write the post.

We have a new gal in the office. She’s a peach.
Also, she’s a little nerdy like me. We have already bonded over our love of Dr. Who. And we both got a giggle out of several of our office mates not knowing about the good Dr. 🙂

Our sensory analysis guy is out of the office this week, so our former department head is in covering for him. He’s a good guy – he even gave me a gift card to my favorite bar/restaurant!
Seriously, gang, my job and coworkers are awesome.

No tribal dance class tonight, which is a bummer. My instructor is out of town this week. And we’re in between sessions for Cabaret, so it’s a pretty lazy week for me extracurricular-wise. I’m ok with that, though; I’m pretty sure I need the break. After my kick-butt performance on Sunday, I’m a little wiped out.

I also need some time to plan my summer activities.
I’m the summer parades coordinator for my St. Patrick’s Day group. So I need to get all our dates down.